Section 4.20. All Members of Parliament will be allowed Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, subject only to Parliament’s own rules of procedure (Standing Orders).
Please scrutinise all the proposed amendments and replies before commenting or voting. Short comments are most often read and must not exceed 100 words. You can propose an Amendment at the bottom of this page - please read the guidelines .
Note that the original wording appears again first below and sustains the same comment & voting regime as all other amendment proposals.
Section 4.20. Section 4.20. All Members of Parliament will be allowed Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, subject only to Parliament’s own rules of procedure (Standing Orders).
Section 4.20. That freedom of speech should not allow the use of inuendo, insinuation or lying. Opinions are valid, but to be promulgated need to be substantiated by fact or evidence.
Section 4.20. This article is presumably intended to ensure that speeches in parliament have the same legal protection against prosecution for defamation etc. as they do at Westminster, but it is not clear to me that the present wording does so. Has a lawyer been consulted on it?
Section 4.20. Section 4.20. All Members of Parliament will be allowed Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, subject only to Parliament’s own rules of procedure (Standing Orders). The Standing Orders should prohibit misrepresentation, insinuation, inuendo, slander or libel unless substantiated by fact and evidence.
Proposed Amendments to Section
Please scrutinise all the proposed amendments and replies before commenting or voting. Short comments are most often read and must not exceed 100 words.
You can propose an Amendment at the bottom of this page - please read the guidelines .
Note that the original wording appears again first below and sustains the same comment & voting regime as all other amendment proposals.
Original Version
Section 4.20. Section 4.20. All Members of Parliament will be allowed Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, subject only to Parliament’s own rules of procedure (Standing Orders).
Section 4.20. That freedom of speech should not allow the use of inuendo, insinuation or lying. Opinions are valid, but to be promulgated need to be substantiated by fact or evidence.
Section 4.20. This article is presumably intended to ensure that speeches in parliament have the same legal protection against prosecution for defamation etc. as they do at Westminster, but it is not clear to me that the present wording does so. Has a lawyer been consulted on it?
Section 4.20. Affected by my comments made earlier in this constitution exercise.
Proposed Amendment to Section 4.20.
Section 4.20. Section 4.20. All Members of Parliament will be allowed Freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, subject only to Parliament’s own rules of procedure (Standing Orders). The Standing Orders should prohibit misrepresentation, insinuation, inuendo, slander or libel unless substantiated by fact and evidence.
Section 4.20. Slander and libel are terms of English law; the Scots term for both is defamation.